should I pay??

deano1970 · Post by **deano1970** » 19 Sep 2011, 18:44

hi everyone, I posted a few questions in here and Citroën about a fuel pressure sensor that was showing up as a fault. was coming up as an anti pollution fault. Anyway, I asked the garage next door to where I work to order the part. They took about three days to get on the phone and order it, any way it came the other friday, he said he was going to fit it on saturday at first,then said to leave till monday as they would have more time. anyway, saturday afternoon, no anti pollution fault warning and no engine management light. I had put some redex in and some injector cleaner. anyway, it's been fine now for two weeks. I just went back to work today after a week off and the garage are saying to me that cos it was a specialist part ordered in by the local peugeot dealer, they won't take it back? Where do I stand with that? I don't fancy paying £110.00 for a part I no longer need and sticking it in my toolbox.....Thing is if they ordered it straigt away,I would have had it fitted and no problem, but now the problem has gone away,I do not wish to pay for it just because it had to be "ordered in"...surely the part can go back to where it came and go back on the shelf? after all, it isn't like the part has been specially made, you can get em off e bay for 20 quid, only reason I didn't get one from there is cos peugeot wouldn't give me the right part number and I wanted to be sure I got the right part. So, do I need to pay for it? I think peugeot are being very unreasonable as if the part is still brand new and not been used, what is the problem? thanks for any advice? dean...

Gibbo2286 · Post by **Gibbo2286** » 19 Sep 2011, 18:48

You ordered it, you entered a contract to buy it, you must pay for it.

Deanxm · Post by **Deanxm** » 19 Sep 2011, 18:51

Yes i have to agree, the dealer has bought the part and had it sent in at your request, its not right to then lumber them with the cost of the part............

D

Sl4yer · Post by **Sl4yer** » 19 Sep 2011, 21:20

Yes, if it's not a stock item at the dealer, you'll have to pay. And not many parts are nowadays.

James

deano1970 · Post by **deano1970** » 19 Sep 2011, 21:58

from what the dealer said,they checked which store had the part in stock, so surely it should only result in a handling charge to send it back to where it came? If the place it came from already had it,(there were about three i think) then surely it can be returned? I don't want to fall out with my local garage over it but I also don't want to pay for a part that I don't actually need. My point was that if the garage had looked at it/ fitted it when they said they would then there would not have been a problem, but they didn't and then the fault disappears? so why can't the part be returned from the peugeot dealer that it came from? that's the bit I don't understand???

Gibbo2286 · Post by **Gibbo2286** » 19 Sep 2011, 22:16

Let me say as a garage owner for some twenty two years that I'm still selling off parts on Ebay that I got in specially for customers like yourself who wouldn't honour the deal they'd done and left me holding stock I had no use for.

Pay for the part, do the right thing, if you don't need it in the near future sell it off yourself and take the hit you clearly deserve.

handyman · Post by **handyman** » 19 Sep 2011, 22:26

Deano, under the Law of Tort, you have entered into a contract with your local garage. It does not have to be written, as verbal contracts hold up just as much as written ones in courts of law.

The garage has upheld its side of the contract by supplying the part you asked for. If you do not fulfill your side of the contract, you leave yourself open to being sued for breach of contract, which can be quite onerous as you could be sued not only for the cost of the part and the work that was to be undertaken but also for any other costs the garage has to recoup the money and compensation. Scary.

Your only option would be to pay for the part, try and recoup your costs by selling the part, even at a discount to mitigate your loss.

Or alternatively, ask the dealers if they will take back the part for a handling fee, usually their margin on bringing the part back into stock. You still loose.

As everybody has stated, you ordered the part, you've got to pay for it. Morally and legally its the correct thing to do.

Personally, if anybody asked me to buy in a special part, I'd want it paid for up front to stop me holding the baby, metaphorically speaking.

Handyman

deano1970 · Post by **deano1970** » 19 Sep 2011, 22:35

Gibbo2286 wrote:Pay for the part, do the right thing, if you don't need it in the near future sell it off yourself and take the hit you clearly deserve.

I clearly deserve? if you ran your garage as these people do you deserve to be selling parts from your shelf. now don't get me wrong,the lads are ok but I was ringing on a daily basis for them to order the part. it took for the garage owner to actually get their backsides into gear. as I said, if they ordered it when I first asked,then the part wolud have been fitted anyway. I think from talking to them today,that they accept some of the blame for that so I will talk to them, and resolve it, but with money being tight, you can understand why, when the fault is fixed,I am reluctant to pay for the part.what you as a garage owner aren't telling me is, why can't the part be sent back to the dealer it came from and I would pay the handling charge? I accept I asked them to order the part, and as I said, three dealers had it in stock, so why on earth can't the part be sent back to them with handling charges paid for by me? I am missing something obviously because everyone seems to agree that I should pay for the part, but nobody has said or explained why it cannot go back to the original dealer who had it in stock for the cost of handling??

Ross_K · Post by **Ross_K** » 19 Sep 2011, 23:25

If the part was 110% definitely in stock in their dealership, requiring nothing but somebody walking from the parts dept to the service dept with a box I would have no qualms telling them to eff off, specially if they dragged their heels in getting around to doing the work.

I'd call it immoral for the garage to try to force payment on an item which was sitting on a shelf on their premises.

Tort law and all that is great, but no business is going to sue for breach of contract for a £110 part. With nothing but a verbal contract?

They'll just overcharge the next granny who comes in for an oil change, and all will be right with the world again.

Gibbo2286 · Post by **Gibbo2286** » 20 Sep 2011, 10:53

deano1970 wrote:
Gibbo2286 wrote:Pay for the part, do the right thing, if you don't need it in the near future sell it off yourself and take the hit you clearly deserve.
I clearly deserve? if you ran your garage as these people do you deserve to be selling parts from your shelf. now don't get me wrong,the lads are ok but I was ringing on a daily basis for them to order the part. it took for the garage owner to actually get their backsides into gear. as I said, if they ordered it when I first asked,then the part wolud have been fitted anyway. I think from talking to them today,that they accept some of the blame for that so I will talk to them, and resolve it, but with money being tight, you can understand why, when the fault is fixed,I am reluctant to pay for the part.what you as a garage owner aren't telling me is, why can't the part be sent back to the dealer it came from and I would pay the handling charge? I accept I asked them to order the part, and as I said, three dealers had it in stock, so why on earth can't the part be sent back to them with handling charges paid for by me? I am missing something obviously because everyone seems to agree that I should pay for the part, but nobody has said or explained why it cannot go back to the original dealer who had it in stock for the cost of handling??

You're missing the point in so many ways, you set in motion a chain of events which you now want to reverse, firstly you claim that the garage were slow in ordering the part, that's not provable, they may have ordered it immediately and had to wait for the next link in the chain to 'get their arse in gear' they are now contracted to buy the part from the dealer and like you have no 'right' to break that contract, if the dealer says he don't want the part back he's not in any way obliged to take it back.

Maybe it was his last one of that item and it's been sitting on his shelf waiting for a buyer for months/years and he has no wish to restock it.

Or maybe he too had to order it in specially from the manufacturer and will be lumbered with the hassle of getting them to accept a return.

Ps. The reason I'm still selling off parts for old Austins and Hillmans is because I was too soft on customers like you.

Ross_K · Post by **Ross_K** » 20 Sep 2011, 11:31

Guys I think a lot of you are jumping the gun venting your anger.

The OP says the part was in stock at the dealership. It wasn't a special order.

How are they going to be out for the cost of the part in this case?

They've already paid for it to be part of their stock.

Dunno about you guys, but in my business I incur the cost of having certain parts on the shelf. It's the price of doing business. If I'm missing somthing here, please enlighten me...

You guys lumbered with 20-year old parts should have charged your customers in advance if you were worried about being left on the hook

handyman · Post by **handyman** » 20 Sep 2011, 12:06

Deano and Ross, you seem to miss the point here.

There is a moral argument that Deano has contractual obligations that he cannot negate and I cant see any of the OPs that replied getting angry. We've all stated the blindingly obvious, if you ness up you have to take the consequences..

As for the garage suing for payment, chances are his business insurance has a vulture(solicitor) waiting on the end of a phone to undertake recovery action. All the owner needs to do is get the ball rolling and the costs soon start to mount up. Very scary!

Deano, if you know where this part came from, why not call the Parts Manager and see if he will restock it for a fee?

Ross, the function of the parts dealer is to sell parts, what happens subsequently is not their concern. The trick of a good manager is to stock parts that get sold, dependent on their demand and stock turn, thereby making a profit. Why does he need to take the part back? He has fulfilled his obligation by supply the part.

Do you keep parts on the shelf in the hope somebody may come in to buy them? Its ok to do that if they cost you peanuts or have been written off stock, but otherwise holding stock that does not sell is a sure way to go out of business, fast.

H

Ross_K · Post by **Ross_K** » 20 Sep 2011, 12:25

I have yet to see anybody sue for the non-purchase of a £110 part based on a verbal contract.

If this garage tried to sue me in court for non-performance of a verbal contract my complete defence would be:
The garage attempted to sell me goods and services in bad faith, ie. performing unnecessary work on a vehicle. This would be borne out by the fact that said vehicle is now functioning correctly after the application of £5 worth of injector cleaner.

My expensive solicitor would then give the garage a bill for his costs and mine.

Gibbo2286 · Post by **Gibbo2286** » 20 Sep 2011, 13:02

Sorry Ross you're talking bollox, of course the garage isn't going to sue, they'll have to bite the bullet that the op should be biting thus in the long run having to pass the cost onto their other customers.

They didn't diagnose the fault if the op's first post is as it reads, he did by asking questions on here I posted a few questions in here and Citroën about a fuel pressure sensor that was showing up as a fault. was coming up as an anti pollution fault. Anyway, I asked the garage next door to where I work to order the part. so your solicitor would be up the creek if he used that argument.

I'm not a bit angry, just advising the op where he stands, which is what his question was.

handyman · Post by **handyman** » 20 Sep 2011, 13:21

Yes Ross, Gibbo has seen the hole in your argument as a defence. Nice one! As a defence, your argument is as water tight as a collander and actually refers to subsequent events. Deano has no defence.

If Deano asked the garage to order the part, it was on his cognizance, ergo its his responsibility to pay for it.

As the fault diagnosis proved to be incorrect, that is another issue that is outside of the jurisdiction of the garage. They acted on Deanos instruction and in good faith.

Suing for the cost of this part would not be difficult in the UK as the debt could be dealt with through the Fast Track Small Claims system. One or two pieces of paper, ten minutes to fill out the details on line and pay the fees, which are claimable and you can get a result within a couple of weeks. Not exactly onerous, I know as I have used the system to chase non-paying customers.

The only fault that the garage had was trusting Deano to pay for the part once it had been ordered. T'were me, I'd have got payment upfront.

H